Should the government dictate or regulate marriage?

[Desk trauma]

And who's going to step in when wives 2-5 decide not to abide by it?

Hospital security if they make a scene.

 

[RDKirk]

And who's going to step in when wives 2-5 decide not to abide by it?

When there is a legal document available, the government can enforce it.

 

[Ken-1122]

And if you were to get hit by a bus and fall into a coma, which of your wives would be the one with the authority to decide whether or not to pull the plug?

That is something to be worked out prior to getting married.

 

[TLK Valentine]

That is something to be worked out prior to getting married.

And when it's not?

 

[RDKirk]

And when it's not?

Then it gets to be a toss-up just as it can be today, because there are a number of ways even the wife doesn't get absolute say-so without a living will.

 

[Ken-1122]

And when it's not?

Then it's the same as when an unmarried man dies without a will.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Then it's the same as when an unmarried man dies without a will.

Except you're not dead. You're in the hospital on life support.

Who decides whether or not to pull the plug?

 

[TLK Valentine]

Then it gets to be a toss-up just as it can be today, because there are a number of ways even the wife doesn't get absolute say-so without a living will.

Such as...?

 

[RDKirk]

Such as...?

State law about such considerations that take the decision out of her hands (as happened to me in Oklahoma as my mother's next of kin after an accident left her brain dead).

Both persons are critically injured in the same accident and the wife is incapacitated.

Other members of the family simply file an injunction.

 

[Ken-1122]

Except you're not dead. You're in the hospital on life support.

Who decides whether or not to pull the plug?

Unless you've put something in place where one of your wives does, it will probably go to your next of kin.

 

[TLK Valentine]

State law about such considerations that take the decision out of her hands (as happened to me in Oklahoma as my mother's next of kin after an accident left her brain dead).

Both persons are critically injured in the same accident and the wife is incapacitated.

Other members of the family simply file an injunction.

Five wives means four potential injunctions before we even get to the other members of the family...

 

[RDKirk]

Five wives means four potential injunctions before we even get to the other members of the family...

It is and will be a "problem" in American juripsrudence that every person is due his day in court, however that day is a whole lot shorter when it's shown that the person had made a legal agreement otherwise.

 

[ArmenianJohn]

Generally the government should not be deciding on what constitutes a marriage, but the government does need to regulate at some level the relationships between people in the same family. Since marriages form families, the government needs to be able to define families this way.

But I don't see why the government should regulate polygamy or other non-traditional marriages, including gay marriages. If the government were going to enforce Biblical, Christian marriages then that would be a new thing, because they never, to my knowledge, have done such a thing.

 

[RDKirk]

Generally the government should not be deciding on what constitutes a marriage, but the government does need to regulate at some level the relationships between people in the same family. Since marriages form families, the government needs to be able to define families this way.

But I don't see why the government should regulate polygamy or other non-traditional marriages, including gay marriages.

Within the context of your post: Because those non-traditional marriages are also forming families...adopting children, having surrogate children, et cetera.

 

[Philip_B]

Generally the government should not be deciding on what constitutes a marriage, but the government does need to regulate at some level the relationships between people in the same family. Since marriages form families, the government needs to be able to define families this way.

But I don't see why the government should regulate polygamy or other non-traditional marriages, including gay marriages. If the government were going to enforce Biblical, Christian marriages then that would be a new thing, because they never, to my knowledge, have done such a thing.

I have trouble understanding how a Government could legislate in relation to Marriage without have made clear the definition of the term. How that definition works in a multicultural pluralist context is of course challenging. It ultimately must either be a fixed and rigid definition of the requirements for a marriage to be a 'legal marriage', or some definition that excluded qualities of relationship that could be considered marriage.

 

[Ken-1122]

but the government does need to regulate at some level the relationships between people in the same family.

Why?